Samantha Easter

Senior communications specialist
Mountain America Credit Union

Samantha Easter is a senior communications specialist at Mountain America Credit Union in Salt Lake City, Utah, concentrating on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging; personal finance; and professional development. Before this, she served as assistant vice president of instructional design, leading a team to craft  training programs, and as a human resources program manager for employee engagement and development.Easter, who is autistic/ADHD, passionately advocates for neurodiversity and enjoys speaking to workplaces to promote inclusive environments. She is a member on the Utah Workforce Development Council, Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities Council, the Adult Autism Treatment Council, the Center for Autism, and Disibility:IN.Easter holds a B.A. in journalism and a master’s degree in adult education and diversity from the University of Arizona, and an MBA from the University of Utah.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Barbara Finlay looking at a glass jar with a brain.

Remembering Barbara Finlay, ‘maverick’ of evolutionary neuroscience

Finlay, who died on 12 September, championed the idea that developmental constraints dictate how evolution sculpts brains, a concept she used to model the timing of hundreds of events and align them across mammalian species.

By Calli McMurray
23 October 2026 | 8 min read
A crow looking at a screen showing a circle of white dots on a black background.

Crows have brains ‘in the fast lane’

The birds accurately complete decision-making tasks twice as fast as primates, although their endbrains look considerably different.

By Sarah Thau
22 October 2026 | 4 min read
A boy manipulates blocks at a table while sitting across from a woman taking notes.

Prevalence of profound autism declines with new definition

The updated, more precise definition used in a CDC study includes adaptive scores.

By Brianna Abbott
22 October 2026 | 5 min read